(jinddidn Forcslru Joiinuii June, U)l / 



1165 



Peat Bogs as Sources of Fuel 



As the fuel situation in Canada, 

 and particularly in the prairie prov- 

 inces, is drawing much public dis- 

 cussion, the Journal reproduces an 

 interesting statement made by Mr. 

 J. M. Macoun at a meeting of the 

 Canadian Forestry Association some 

 years ago. 



"I would like to speak of the 

 utilization of our peaL bogs for fuel 

 purposes. For at least 20 of the last 

 27 years my work has been in the 

 parts of Canada lying between Hud- 

 son's Bay and the Mackenzie River. 

 That is the part of Canada in which 

 most of our large peat bogs are found. 

 Without going into figures, I will 

 venture to say that between Hudson's 

 Bay and the Mackenzie River there 

 are at least as many acres of peat 

 bogs as there are of- green growing 

 timber. I don't mean on timbered 

 land, because we know a great part 

 of that country has been denuded. 

 But I am quite certain that there are 

 as many acres of peat bogs as there 

 are of green growing timber. Now 

 the natural question, not only for the 

 whole country, but especially for this 

 Forestry Association, is, what can 

 we do to utilize those bogs? My 

 work last summer, beginning in On- 

 tario and extending through Mani- 

 toba and Saskatchewan, was to ex- 

 amine many of the larger bogs to see 

 what they are worth for fuel purposes: 

 that is, to ascertain their depth, the 

 quality of the peat, and especially 

 the possibilities of draining them. 

 While I was working on that special 

 question I naturally learned what I 

 could, from the point of view of the 

 forester. Speaking from this point 

 of view, I think our Canadian bogs 

 are of three kinds. 



(1) The bogs that cannot be drain- 

 ed. When I say bogs that cannot be 

 drained, of course we can drain any- 

 thing; it is a mere matter of money — 

 I mean bogs that from their situation, 

 being in basins and that sort of thing, 

 cannot profitably be drained. There 

 are many of these bogs in Canada, 



and i)crhaps we cannot consider them 

 at all from the forestry point of view. 



(2) There are the bogs that can 

 be completely drained without very 

 great expense. I am entirely ignor- 

 ing the (piestion of the utilization of 

 the bogs for fuel. A bog that can be 

 completely drained will eventually 

 be used to a very great extent for 

 agricultural purposes. 



(3) As far, however, as my ex- 

 perience goes, and that of those with 

 whom I have talked, a great propor- 

 tion of our bogs in Canada are of the 

 kind that can be only partially drain- 

 ed. That is, it would be difficult to 

 drain them completely, and yet some 

 surface water can be taken off. When 

 water leaves a bog it goes for good. 

 That is, if you can lower the average 

 height of the water in a bog one foot, 

 even if it goes up to a higher level in 

 the spring, still the average level will 

 be permanently lowered. A some- 

 what triflling incident drew my atten- 

 tion to this matter whilst I was work- 

 ing on the Canadian Northern Rail- 

 way, between Hudson Bay Junction 

 and the Pas Mission. On the right 

 of way between the rails and where 

 the fences will ultimately be. the bog 

 has been sufficiently drained to allow 

 of a growth of aspen poplar along the 

 whole length of the line, which for 89 

 miles runs through bog and swamp 

 land. The bog itself is covered with 

 spruce and tamarac. but I found 

 young aspen poplar from one to two 

 years old along practically the whole 

 line, thus showing the effect of a little 

 drainage. A year later, whilst work- 

 ing along the muskeg near Winnipeg 

 — the largest muskeg in Canada — I 

 found not only well grown poplars on 

 either side of the track, but that the 

 spruce and tamarac which had been 

 growing on the bog for a great many 

 years was very much larger where 

 the land had been partially drained 

 than it was fifty or one hundred yards 

 away. The inference is that if we 

 partially drain a bog, without re- 

 foresting at all, the young spruce and 



